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Facebook introduces new Privacy shortcuts

A few weeks back, we posted about the reawakening of an age old chain message that concerned Facebook users posted in an attempt to protect their privacy. I don’t think it is in response to this, but Facebook released a new feature that aims to put privacy controls more into the hands of the users instead of tucking them away into screens they won’t get through.

You’ll find the new settings in the top right of your Facebook just next to your photo. You have 3 main sections as above with sub-sections.

Who can see my stuff?

This gives you one click access to control who has access to which part of the information. As you can see, I have my future posts on a custom setting which controls exactly which groups of people I have given access to.

Additionally, you can check your Activity Log which gives you a detailed of history of everything that you have been up to on Facebook, including your posts, comments, photos you’ve shared and have been tagged in, games you have played, etc.

The third feature that I have always loved the most is the “view my profile as” which is the third option above. This tool lets you see what your timeline looks like to the public or a specific friend. Go ahead and check if that not-so-special someone has access to your profiles!

Who can contact me?

This controls who can send you messages and who can send you friend requests. If you don’t want random people contacting you, I suggest changing these settings to Friends and Friend of Friends respectively. This won’t stop them all, but it will definitely reduce the random messages people on Facebook who are not on your friends’ list can send you.

How do I stop someone from bothering me?

You can block someone to unfriend them and prevent them from starting conversations with you or seeing things you post on your timeline. But, remember if you share the same groups with the person, they can still see what you post.

What do you think of the new Facebook options? It’s mainly a repackaging of existing options, but I think it is a good step forward in giving people a better control over their privacy.